How would you find out the number of dissatisfied customers that you’ve had this month? Would you look at feedback forms which gave you a poor rating? The number of disgruntled phone calls you received? Or maybe look at how many people complained about your brand on social media?
Any of these options would seem viable if you wanted to look at customers who had really been upset by your company, but what about those who found the service just mediocre. Those that found it 'okay' but weren’t emotionally motivated enough to pick up the phone or take to the keyboard.
Start with your data
Take a moment to think about how innacurate data can affect customer experience. A report by Integrate found that poor quality data affected 40% of B2B SMB and enterprise business leads on average. Your frontline agents need accurate data about customers, purchases, and any previous history to make sure they can deliver the right answers and tailor the experience they give to customers.
The importance of keeping your information up-to-date and clean is essential, but getting relevant data from them at key touchpoints is also crucial. This is why we're not advocates of survey led questioning, we have to empower customers to give feedback in their own words so we can focus on what truly matters to them.
Then use it in real-time
Amazon has taken real-time data to the next level by anticipating what a customer might purchase next, packaging it up and getting it ready to ship before the customers’ even pressed the ‘buy’ button. This data includes past orders, returns and searches, the contents of their shopping cart or wish list and even how long they hover over an item with their cursor.
By using a wide range of data that isn’t months out of date, Amazon have been able to anticipate customer needs and stop complaints or silent dissatisfaction in their tracks.
Make sure the data suits the customer
What is also good about the data that Amazon uses is that it is relevant to the 'silent' customer that they are targeting. They’re looking at the data of individual customers who will happily purchase from the site, without any cause to complain, and are using it to improve their experience.
This data is also effective because it doesn’t ask a customer to go out of their way to fill in any long feedback forms. If you want to provide conveniance to your customers then ensure that you engage with them through a medium that they're comfortable with. Combine this with a request for feedback shortly after your engagement with them and you'll see a rise in response rates.
Reward loyalty
To engage the more 'silent' customer on a one to one basis, find those that have been loyal and shout about them. Ranters can shout for themselves and get the benefits, but those that are silent and loyal need to be rewarded too.
Christina McMenemy stayed at the Gaylord Opryland Hotel for three years in a row. She loved the clock radio that was in her room but couldn’t find one to purchase anywhere. When she asked the hotel where to purchase one they said that the exact model wasn’t available for the public to buy, but found her an alternative on Amazon.
Christina said that she wasn’t quite happy with their suggestion and would keep searching, but when she returned to her room later in the day she found a second clock radio and a note with her name on it. By spotting an opportunity to reward a returning customer they made her loyal for life, and gained a bit of social media buzz too.
Find out who they follow
Although silent majority customers are unlikely to post about you on social media, looking at who they follow means that you know who influences their buying decisions. The level of social media influence on customers is clear to see. A positive tweet from food critic Giles Goren is estimated to be worth $1 million to the restaurant that he reviews.
People are influenced by big social media characters, so if you know who a customer is following, you can see where their buying behaviour might be going and intercept at the right moment. Follow these influencers yourself and get to know them and your customer’s behaviour better.
Put in the effort
It can seem that you’re putting in all of the effort to keep your silent majority engaged, but they’re a big audience that’s worth investing in. Rather than spending all of your resources focusing on the ranting and raving minority, take some time to get to know what your silent customers do and what they want and use it to make their experience better before they even know about it.
To explore what you can do to capture the Voice of the Customer check out our article on 'How to capture the true Voice of the Customer'. The article details a short but sweet exercise to help you engage your customers and achieve the results you want from a VoC programme. Click below to learn more!
